In this song of praise, the Psalmist magnifies God for His covenantal love in the creation of this world. It begins and ends with “Bless the Lord, O my soul!” in verses 1 and 35. This is a cry of worship from the heart about the greatness of God in the creation order of this earth. Then some scholars suggest that the main body of this Psalm in verses 1 to 30 somewhat resembles the six days’ creation account in Gen. 1: 1– 2: 3.

First, God created light in the 1st day according to Moses in the book of Genesis (Gen 1:3-5). The Psalter in Ps 104:1-2 depicts the dual nuances of physical as well as God’s spiritual light; God uses light to clothe Himself like a garment and this also refers to the light of His splendor and majesty.

Second, God created the expanse in the 2nd day (Gen 1:6-8). The Psalmist in Ps 104:2-3 uses poetical expressions like “heavens like a tent”, “lay the beams of His chambers on the waters”, “makes the clouds His chariots” to describe this water expanse that separates the earth from the sky.

Third, God created the earth, the seas, vegetation, plants yielding seed and fruit trees in the 3rd day (Gen 1:9-13). This is being reflected in Ps 104:5-13 when the Psalmist vividly describes in greater details, the activities in the land and water; as well as the vegetation and trees in Ps 104:14-18.

Fourth, God set apart the day from the night in the 4th day (Gen 1:14-19). The Psalter describes in Ps 104:19-23 how both man and creatures of the night benefit from this distinction; man works in the day and rest in the night but it is vice versa for these animals.

Fifth, God created living creatures in the seas and birds in the sky in the 5th day (Gen 1:20-23). Besides instructing man to be fruitful and multiply later in Gen 1:28, we observe that he first said the same things to these creatures in verse 22. Then Ps 104:24-27 describes how the sea teems with innumerable creatures both great and small.

Sixth, God created man and woman in His image in the 6th day. (Gen 1:24-31). In Ps 104:28-30, though the subject is not explicitly mentioned, we can observe from the context that the Psalmist writes how God sends forth the Spirit to create man from the dust of the earth.

As we observe how the Psalmist describes the creation story in his own words, let us echo in awesome wonder the wonderful creation of God as our prayer using the lyrics of the song, “How Great Thou Art.”

Prayer:

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder,

Consider all the worlds thy hands have made;

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy power throughout the universe displayed:

Refrain:

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee:

How great thou art! How great thou art !

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee:

How great thou art! How great thou art !